Return to Gear Point
by Twilails
Summary: Two years after Fate was defeated, a powerful new threat means that Tails must once more traverse dimensions to return to Gear Point. Things get more complicated for Tails when he meets a new girl who creates feelings he hadn't felt since he'd met Stacey...But he knew he could never truly protect her. Can he defeat his enemies...As well as his own complicated feelings?
1. The Beast

Hello once again, I'm sorry it took so long, but between my struggle with depression and my recent addiction to League of Legends, I haven't found much time to write...But don't worry, you can expect more epic fights, more powerful villains, new powers and abilities, and even a brand new love interest for a certain two-tailed hero! But what are you still reading this for? Go ahead and dive right in! And don't forget to go check out the new chapter of Knights of Mobius when you're finished!

Chapter One: The Beast

"Good morning Station Square! This is DJ RevFoxx, coming at you live from right here in our great nation's capitol, bringing you the hottest hits to grace our airwaves!" Tails' hand emerged from the covers, fumbling around for a moment before finding its mark and hitting the snooze on the alarm. He groaned a little, sitting up and rubbing his face. "Ergh...Man, Eggman's really been keeping us on our toes with his schemes lately!" he looked around his room, his eyes drifting over to the katana near the bookcase. It lay unsheathed, its pure white blade glinting in the sunlight. This was the Charger Blade, the sword that had belonged to his late lover.

It had been two years since Fate had been defeated and Tails had returned to Mystic Ruins. He'd been able to move on, and had grown taller, gaining some muscle from his training. Additionally, he had developed new powers from practicing with his gear booster as well as his own elemental abilities he'd gained from the boosters back on Gear Point. His friends had helped him get over Stacey's death, but he still couldn't get her off of his mind. Her sword lying in his room didn't help, but he thought it was better that he take it since he had become its new owner since he'd used it to help defeat Fate. Because of her constant memory, Tails had decided on a rather drastic course of action; he'd sworn off love completely.

He still had his friends to hang out with, and his mechanical intuition was as keen as ever, but he knew that he could never go through losing another lover again. It didn't matter how powerful he was, he wouldn't be able to protect her all the time, and there was always someone more powerful who might put her life in danger. With how crushed he was after Stacey had died, he knew that going through the same experience a second time would kill him. He hadn't told his friends about this decision, not even Sonic knew what he had decided, though he humored their attempts to find a new girl for him. He knew he would at least have to at least tell Sonic eventually, however; it seemed he was starting to get a little suspicious of how Tails kept breaking off relationships with a blind date after only going out a few times with them.

Tails looked away from the sword on the book case, going to his closet to get dressed. He still wore his black leather Gear Point jacket, having refitted it as he grew so it still fit. He also wore a pair of black jeans and a pair of blue goggles that contained several vision modes and could show him the components of a piece of machinery. Having gotten dressed, he slipped the sheath of his weapon, the Scrap Sword, over his shoulder and onto his back. Having once been simply the Gear Sword, Tails had been adding more components to it so that it was now roughly the size of a claymore, a set of jagged teeth on one side of the tip. It didn't look as much like a bolted-together piece of scrap metal as it had before either, having a more solid blade. The teeth on the blade made ripping through metal easier while fighting robots, though he rarely used it against flesh-and-blood opponents; Fate had been the first and only person he'd ever actually killed, and he didn't intend on making it a habit.

The last thing he put on was the most important; the necklace with the gear-shaped crystal charm. This was the Gear Booster, what had given him his original powers and made his journey to the parallel world containing Gear Point, the industrious mountain-top village that had been his home for six years. He missed Gear Point, the friendly community, the amazing steam-powered machines that were common in that world...Though most of all, he missed Shayne, the kind middle-aged raccoon who had taken him in after he had so suddenly found himself in a different world. Through the six years he'd lived with him, he'd begun to think of him almost as a father, and he was certain Shayne felt the same way about their relationship as well.

However, getting back to Gear Point proved to be no easy task. Although Tails' friend Max had discovered a way to open a portal back to their own world using their boosters, it seemed that the way back was blocked somehow, inaccessible. Max had thought that maybe the boosters were more powerful in their own world, though Tails wasn't so sure. Nonetheless, he'd been trying to find a way to open a portal he could use to visit the other world occasionally, but he hadn't had much luck lately. He wasn't worried about it right now however as he finished getting dressed and started to go about his day as usual.

* * *

"Hey Tails, over here!" Sonic called over, and Tails smiled as he went over to join his friend. Sonic was the same as he always had been, although he had taken to wearing a pair of goggles and a fleece pilot's jacket to protect himself from windchill due to his ever-increasing speed.

"Hey Sonic," Tails greeted him. "Where are we having lunch today?" he asked. The two of them had decided to take some time to hang out with each other when they weren't busy with battling Eggman or Sonic wasn't trying to avoid Amy.

"Oh, I found a little place over on Cardsen Boulevard...Though I did manage to find a date for you, I think you're really going to like this girl!" Sonic said enthusiastically, and Tails hesitated. He knew that this was the perfect time to mention his decision in regards to his love life, though now that he was standing there, he wasn't sure he could go through with it.

"Listen Sonic, about that...There's something I sort of have to tell you," he started taking a deep breath.

"What is it?" Sonic asked, looking a little confused.

"Well, the thing is that...I...Well I..." Tails started to say before there was suddenly an explosion in the street somewhere ahead of them.

"Whatever it is, it'll have to wait...Come on!" Sonic said as he sped off. Tails sighed in relief as he quickly followed after Sonic.

"Gearcycle!" he declared, and as he did so, a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle appeared before him, and he jumped on, quickly riding off after Sonic. The bike had a blue and yellow paint job and had a design on both sides in the back depicting his gear booster flanked by his twin tails. This was no ordinary bike; this was the Gearcycle, which had the Gear Booster's power integrated into it, allowing him to use the booster to summon it whenever necessary. It had been modified to reach speeds nearly as fast as Sonic's, and there were slots in the tires where Tails could summon elemental gears to use in battle. The headlight and backlight could also be replaced by one of his gears for powerful attacks coming from either end of the bike.

Tails soon caught up with Sonic, his eyes widening at the sight. There was a huge mechanical wolf in the middle of the street, standing at least seven feet high. There were large glowing red crystals sticking out of various places in its body, seemingly some sort of power source. But what really caught his attention was how it seemed to be draining the electricity out of everything around it, its steel bear trap jaw opening now and then to let out electrical blasts at the G.U.N. agents trying to stop it. It had already drained the streetlights, several buildings, and the traffic lights in the area, and it didn't seem to be slowing down as the electricity crackled through the crystals powering it.

"Any ideas?" Sonic asked as he came back beside the Gearcycle, the two of them starting to circle the beast.

"I'm going to see if I can try and contain it, see if you can do anything to break some of those crystals!" Tails suggested, and Sonic nodded, speeding off once more. The G.U.N. forces were soon issued a tactical retreat, and Tails used this opportunity to summon a wind and an earth gear on the Gearcycle's tires, circling around the beast. As he did so, a fierce sandstorm started to blow in the circle he rode in, creating a thick wall of sand. The beast leapt at the blowing sand, but even the beast's massive size didn't help as it bounced right off, trapped in the eye of the storm. Sonic didn't seem to be having much luck even cracking the crystals powering it as the beast simply shrugged off his attacks. The beast paused for a moment, before it suddenly blasted an energy blast from the crystal on the tip of its tail, blasting the ground right in front of Tails' bike.

"Whoa!" Tails was thrown from the bike, and he quickly caused it to disappear again as the sandstorm subsided and Tails landed on the ground, pulling his sword from his sheath. "Maybe we can slow it down," he suggested as he summoned both a fire gear and an earth gear, readying one of his newer powers.

"Gear Fusion: Lava Pool!" the two gears fused together into a new gear as he grabbed it, hurling it to the area under where the beast stood. There was a red glow in a circle around the beast, and Sonic jumped back as the ground below the beast melted into lava, starting to sink down into it. Tails then summoned a large water gear as he readied another newfound ability. "Advanced Gear: Deep Freeze!" the gear started spinning, shooting a jet of water cold enough that the lava almost instantly solidified, the water that hit the beast freezing parts of it on contact.

"Nice going, Tails!" Sonic commented as he admired the handiwork.

"Thanks...Now, we just need to..." he started to say before there was an ominous crack, and Tails' eyes widened. "Don't tell it's..." there was a burst of energy from around the beast as it suddenly broke free from the hardened rock Tails had put it in, leaping free from the hole effortlessly.

"Well, that sure won't help me with property damage costs," Tails muttered as the beast turned, opening its mouth to blast him and Sonic with its electrical attack. Then, suddenly, it seemed to have been knocked back slightly by some invisible force before a black-and-red blur went past, going up to slam into it and drive it back further.

"Hey, mind if we join the fun?" a familiar voice asked as Max stepped forward. He wore the same jeans sweater and large cabby hat as he always had, his sleeve rolled up to reveal his mechanical right arm. Like Tails, the young cat had grown as well, though he still stood at least a head shorter than his friend. Shadow soon landed beside him after his attack on the mechanical behemoth as well. Shadow was also much the same, save for the armband on his right arm recognizing him as a G.U.N. special operations agent and an earpiece he used to keep in touch with G.U.N. HQ.

"Hey, the more the merrier, right?" Tails put in, grinning. Together the four of them pressed their attack further, but even with Max and Shadow's help, they weren't making much progress, and the crystals remained as impenetrable as ever. Then, as the beast opened its mouth to blast them with another electrical attack, Tails suddenly had an idea. He added a few lightning gears onto his sword, rushing forward as the beast launched its attack.

"Lightning Rod!" Tails started using his own electrical powers to draw the electricity from the blast into his blade. A huge amount of electricity charged his sword, his fur starting to stand on end by the time his sword had absorbed the excess electricity. Tails then made his move, pointing his sword and channeling all of the electricity into one of the crystals sticking of the beast's left leg. The crystal grew brighter as more and more electricity flowed into it, the energy crackling around it. Finally, the crystal suddenly exploded, taking most of the beast's leg with it, and Tails smiled.

"That's what I thought...Those crystals can only hold so much energy before they reach a breaking point!" Tails confirmed.

"Good thinking...We should pump those things full of energy and it'll go down before too long!" Max suggested as he ran forward, a laser from one of his mechanical arm's fingers overcharging another crystal at its side.

"This should be easier than I thought," Shadow commented as he readied his Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control!" he warped to the largest crystal sticking directly out of the beast's back, his hand glowing with chaotic energy. "Chaos..."

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOARGHHHHHHH!" the beast suddenly let out a fierce roar, the force of the sound blowing everything around it back as the larger crystal glowed brighter. A red aura came out, part of it forming into part of the beast to replace the parts of it that had already been destroyed, the rest radiating off of it with raw magical energy. The heroes leaped out of the way as a powerful beam shot from the crystal on its tail, an entire building behind them being sliced in half by the powerful attack.

"Ergh...This might be a problem after all!" Shadow commented as he got up.

"Well, one thing's for sure, we won't get close to that thing unless we do something about that tail," Max observed, and Tails nodded, evaluating the situation. The beast's tail was ready whenever any of them got close, and the energy claw of the leg the aura presented a new threat as it tore through cars and other obstacles like a hot knife through butter, leaving smouldering lumps of glass and steel in its wake.

"Yeah...I have an idea, though...Try and keep it focused on you, I'm going to try something sort of risky," Tails cautioned as he summoned his Gearcycle once more, quickly riding closer to the beast. The beast noticed, preparing to blast at him again with the tail crystal.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow's attack distracted it before Sonic leapt into the air, Max using his strike booster to launch Sonic higher into the air before Sonic came smashing down on it again with a crushing force. It wasn't enough as the beast got up, shaking off the blow. By this time, Tails had put several lightning gears on his bike's tires, using an electromagnetic charge to ride up along the side of a building as he came closer. The gearcycle also had a gyroscopic stabilization system, allowing him to keep it stable at any angle he rode it at, making it easier for him to launch the bike off the building towards the tip of its tail. The tail raised up to blast at him, but he leapt clear of his bike as it disappeared once more, the Scrap Sword's blade cutting right through the blast and parting it to either side of him. The blade made contact with the crystal, and energy surged out from the Scrap Sword into it, overcharging it and knocking Tails back as it exploded.

"He's taken out that tail crystal, now's our chance!" Sonic declared as he, Max, and Shadow rushed forward towards the crystal, Tails soon regaining his composure as all four of them struck the crystal at once. The beast gave one last primal roar as the energy faded and the crystal exploded, broken pieces of the machine falling to the ground around them as the remaining people witnessing the battle cheered for the city's heroes. Sonic being who he was ate up the attention while Shadow was more reserved, preferring to contact G.U.N. HQ to report in. Tails and Max, on the other hand, were more concerned with the wreckage of the machine.

"Tails, isn't this...?" Max asked, cutting off as he examined one of the steam pistons in the machinery.

"Yeah, I think so..." Tails commented as he pulled his goggles over his eyes, using them to scan the wreckage to further confirm his suspicions.

"Hey guys, I think we might have a problem," Max signaled Sonic and Shadow as they looked back at the two geniuses with interest.

"All right, what's up?" Sonic asked curiously.

"Well, it's about this machine," Tails started before Sonic cut him off.

"What about it? We destroyed it, didn't we? So why should we worry about it when it's in pieces like this?" he asked.

"That's just it...The pieces! This machine is a technological impossibility...It has the modern metal construction and energy regulation systems of our world...But the inside assembly, including the gears and the steam-based pistons...They're of a type and design only found in the world Gear Point resides in! Such a combination shouldn't be possible, and yet somehow someone used machine components from both worlds to create the ultimate machine!" Tails explained.

"Not to mention these crystals," Max put in, picking up a shard of one of the shattered crystals. "None of us have experienced anything as powerful as these crystals in EITHER of our worlds...And the fact that someone is using them as an energy source is more than enough cause for worry!"

"You're right...Such crystals could potentially rival even the power of the Chaos Emeralds!" Shadow agreed as he listened.

"Well, then what do we do about it?" Sonic asked. "How do we find out who's behind this?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Tails asked, looking back at the machine. "All of those parts had to come from somewhere, and since we know these crystals likely didn't come from around here, that leaves us one option; it's time for me to return to Gear Point!"


	2. Trial By Fire

Chapter Two: Trial By Fire

It had been several days after Tails and the others had destroyed the machine that had attacked the city, and since then, Tails and Max had been feverishly been trying to find a way to open a portal back to Gear Point. However, nothing they tried seemed to work, as if something on the other side was actively trying to keep a portal from materializing between the worlds. The two machine experts were currently back at Tails' workshop, Tails running simulations on his computer to find a way to stabilize a portal while Max worked on the hardware aspect, trying to devise a machine to create the portal out of what resources they had available.

"Let's see here, maybe changing this variable here will be able to draw more energy from the booster to keep the portal open just long enough to slip through," Tails considered, making some changes and running the simulation again. On the screen, the simulation showed a chibi version of Tails himself as a portal opened in front of him, and seemed to stabilize, only to close shut again, causing the chibi Tails to fall to the ground as he tried to jump through it. Tails sighed, throwing his head back as he leaned back in his chair as he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"That's not it, either," Tails sighed, dejected. "We need to get back to Gear Point to find out what's going on, but nothing I try works!"

"I'm not having much luck over here, either," Max replied as he crumpled up a set of blueprints, discarding the remains of his latest machine attempt. "But we've got to keep trying...Who knows what could be going on over there?" he asked.

"Maybe we should try a different location...We've tried breaching the dimensional barrier where we calculated would be near where Gear Point would likely be on the other side...Maybe whatever's blocking our efforts is originating from somewhere near Gear Point, so we might need to find another location further away from the city to break through," Tails suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Max agreed. "Run another scan for any areas beyond Gear Point, there must be some weakness," he suggested.

"All right, running a scan now and...Wait, what's this?" Tails leaned in closer, staring at an area the scan had revealed. "Well, that's strange,"

"What's strange?" Max asked as he walked over to take a look.

"There's some sort of anomaly in the mountain area...According to the scan, it's quite a ways from Gear Point, but the readings from around this area are different from the readings we've been getting...The readings themselves don't make sense either, it's like a hole in the dimensional barrier, but it's sealed off somehow..." Tails commented, glancing at the coordinates that the area appeared on.

"Well, we should definitely check it out, then," Max suggested, and Tails nodded as he printed out the coordinates.

"All right, I'll call Sonic and Shadow as well, if it is a way through the barrier, then we'll want to go through as soon as possible!"

* * *

"Why would this be out in the middle of nowhere?" Sonic asked, confused as he stared at the device before them. The heroes' search had lead them to a secluded area where they had found what had appeared to be an abandoned portal device. A quick examination had revealed that it was functional, and the coordinates that had been set on it definitely confirmed that it lead back to Gear Point's dimension.

"I don't know, but there's another problem," Tails told him. "Although the machine itself is fully operational, it seems it needs another power source to be able to actually open the portal," he explained. "The coordinates seemed to be locked in to their current coordinates, so I keep trying to execute a command to open the portal, but I keep getting an error message telling me to 'insert Viridite'...And I have no idea what that is!"

"It seems we can't find out, either," Max replied as he stood up, closing up the laptop he'd been using. "I've been searching the web and every database I could find, but there's no references to 'Viridite' anywhere...It must be something unique to the other dimension," he commented. Tails crossed his arms, sighing as he looked down. Then, his ears suddenly perked up as he glanced over to the Gear Booster on the chain around his neck.

"Wait a minute...We couldn't identify what kind of crystal the boosters were made out of," he suddenly realized, looking over to Max. "You don't suppose...?"

"Well, it's worth a shot, isn't it?" Max asked, and Tails nodded as he slid off the necklace and placed in a slot near the control panel, typing in a few commands once more.

"Viridite present; beginning stabilization sequence," flashed across the screen as the machine powered up. The Gear Booster glowed brightly, brighter than Tails had ever seen glow before, and a swirling purple portal slowly started to materialize and stabilize in front of them. After a few moments, the portal was fully stabilized, and the glow slowly faded from the Gear Booster as Tails took it once more.

"So there is a connection...We'll have to look into that later, those crystals that powered that machine might even be made of the same substance," Max commented.

"Right, but for now, we should find out where this portal even ends up, because I doubt that it's really near Gear Point," Tails commented, stepping forward. The four of them stepped forward confidently, making their way through the portal. They looked around as they went through the portal, finding themselves in a dense wooded area. The forest around them seemed peaceful, the sound of birds resounding through the trees. As far as they could tell, they were still in a mountainous area, though the forest was dense enough that they couldn't really tell much else about their location.

"We should split up...We don't know how large this forest might be, and if we spread out, that gives us more of a chance to find one of the edges so we might be able to find out where we are," Shadow commented, and the other three nodded in agreement.

"Good idea, let's mark the way we came and agree to meet back here in case anything happens," Tails suggested, and the others agreed with that as well. He went straight ahead into the forest, drawing his sword and using it to scratch an X into a tree every so often so he knew which way he'd come from. He ventured deeper into the forest, listening to the sounds around him. Everything around him seemed peaceful, but he kept his guard up, not seeming to be able to shake a growing feeling of unease. His ears flicked as he listened to a faint rustling in the trees around him.

The rustling continued as he walked through the forest, and he realized that something was following him just out of the line of his vision. His grip tightened on the hilt of his sword, but he didn't make any sudden movements, didn't do anything to alert whatever it was that he was aware of their presence. As he was finishing making another mark on a tree, they made there move as he heard something leap from the trees behind him. He turned, raising his sword and there was a loud clang as steel met steel and he found himself face-to-face with his adversary.

She was a tall vixen who looked around his own age with fiery red fur, white fur around her ankles and forearms.. She had long white-blonde hair and green eyes that stared fiercely back into his own. She wore a white tube top as well as a pair of white bell-bottomed jeans with flame designs around the cuffs. She wielded a long katana with a red blade, the edges around it being black, and as he looked it over, he noticed she also wore a pair of red metal bracers as well as a metal choker necklace with a red flame charm attached to a ring on the front of it.

The two of them stared at each other, sizing each other up. After a few tense moments, she pulled her blade back as she rushed in for another attack. Tails quickly moved to defend with his own blade, noting the surprising strength and skill in which she wielded the weapon. As they fought on, he realized that she seemed to have a lot more experience with a sword than he did as he kept backing away to narrowly avoid the blade's edge. She seemed to be able to predict his blade's movement to slip past his guard, and he realized that he was going to have to rely on something other than his sword if he was going to win this fight.

He backed away once more, watching the vixen carefully as she drew closer. She drew her sword back past her shoulder as she positioned it straight towards Tails as she lunged at him. Tails moved aside at the last second as the blade missed its mark, and he took this chance to rush forward, using his free hand to deliver a punch to her stomach. The attack caught her off-guard as she stumbled back, and Tails took this chance to turn and extend his leg, catching her by the back of the knees in a powerful sweeping kick. As her feet flew out from under her, he rose up slightly to deliver one more strike, bringing the hilt of his sword down into her torso to drive her into the ground. He jumped away as he finished this combo in time to avoid another attack as she raised her legs up to perform a kip up, bringing her sword forward again as she bounced to her feet once more.

"Heh, you're a lot better than those bots you guys had rampaging in the city yesterday, that's for sure!" the vixen told him as she got into a fighting stance, lowering her sword as she brought her left foot forward and brought her fist up. "But I'm through playing around now!" before Tails had a chance to explain himself or ask what she meant, there was a low roar as her fist ignited with a burst of flames.

Tails stared at the flames, taken aback. There wasn't any mana in this world to supply any normal magical abilities, and the boosters were supposed to be one-of-a-kind. She couldn't have had a booster that gave her such abilities either, since he himself had absorbed the flame booster, and its power now resided within his very being. He was snapped out of this momentary stupor as the girl rushed forward, tilting his head back to narrowly avoid a flaming punch. He moved back to avoid her follow-up attacks as she struck out with a frontal kick, turned to come in with an elbow thrust, and finally finished with a palm strike. Her fire magic burst out with every attack to try and so some damage to him, and although he managed to avoid the flames, his fur was singed as he was barely able to escape their range. He jumped back, landing a few feet away as he called upon his own abilities, attaching an earth gear to his sword.

"All right, if that's how you want to play, then let's play!" he told her as he slammed the tip of his sword into the ground. A line of jagged rocks soon started to shoot out of the ground towards her, though she jumped aside as she ran towards him, bringing her hand forward as she came at him with another fiery punch. Tails simply raised a hand, his hand being surrounded by rock as he caught the punch before turning and hurling her behind himself. As she flew back, he slammed his sword into the ground, causing fragments of earth to shoot up before he slashed towards her, sending the projectiles flying towards her. The vixen turned in mid-air, however, using some precision shots from her magic to take them all out before she landed and darted back into the line of trees.

Tails wondered if she might have been giving up before he jumped back to avoid a sudden jet of flame. He then realized that she had in advantage in the woods since she seemed to know them like the back of her hand. She kept on the attack, and Tails barely managed to dodge her attacks as she would jump out from one direction to attack before quickly disappearing back into the line of trees. She then managed to take him by surprise as he was knocked onto his back. She was soon on him once more, diving out from a nearby treetop with a flaming kick aimed right for his face. As she came in for this final attack, Tails was distracted by a sound off to the right.

He quickly reacted, everything around him seeming to move in slow-motion as he rolled backwards to get to his feet, diving and knocking her out of the way as she neared the ground. Seconds after he had done so, a line of razor-sharp crystals ripped through the ground right where she would have landed. They seemed to cut through the earth itself as they shot up out of it, smashing through rocks, trees, and anything else in their path. As both foxes got to their feet, the vixen stared at the crystals as she approached them. Tails recognized them as the same crystals from before, the crystals that had been powering the machine that had attacked Station Square. These crystals were clear, however, as it seemed that there was no sort of energy flowing through them this time.

"...Viridite?!" the vixen said in disbelief. The two of them didn't have long to wonder as another line of crystal ripped through the woods to their right, and more soon followed.

"I think now would be a good time to move," Tails commented, running out of the way as another line ripped through the trees near where he stood. The girl looked from the crystal back to him, uncertain, before she decided to trust him, sheathing her sword and soon followed close behind him. The crystals seemed to be closing in, until a few lines started to come in from both sides, starting to converge on a point ahead of them.

"We're never going to make it like this!" the vixen voiced her concerns, and Tails nodded.

"Agreed!" he said, running a little faster before jumping into the air. "Gearcycle!" his bike appeared under him as he landed on it, hitting the ground and swerving to the side to allow his new ally to catch up. She jumped on without thinking, and Tails swerved again, gunning it and barely making it as the gap between two lines closed as they converged behind them. More lines of crystal were soon forming around them, so he kept going, soon reaching full speed as he raced to stay ahead of the crystals.

"Holy shit...I think I'm gonna be sick..." Tails had almost forgotten about his passenger...Which was quite surprising considering how tightly she was holding on to stay on the bike.

"Hold on, I'm gonna lose them!" Tails assured her as he swerved, soon riding out of the forest and heading straight for a nearby cliff edge. The vixen's eyes widened, holding on even tighter.

"What the hell are you doing?! Stop, STOP!" she screamed, but Tails kept going.

"You're more than welcome to get off, you know," Tails called back, and she looked around; that didn't seem favorable either at that speed. "We'll be fine, trust me!" he yelled, and the girl looked back at him before they went off the cliff edge, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, the wind rushing past her ears...And waited...And waited...

"What the...?!" she opened her eyes, gasping as she almost let go in shock. Tails had put a few wind gears on the wheels of the bike, allowing it to ride in midair as if it were on a solid track. He dipped and swerved, looking for a safe place to land before he touched down somewhere outside of the forest where the crystals hadn't seemed to have reached. He touched down, coasting for a bit before he turned, skidding to a stop. The vixen slid off, taking a few wobbly steps before Tails got up to help steady her, the Gearcycle disappearing once more behind him.

"You all right?" he asked her.

"I...I think so..." she said uncertainly. "Sorry I attacked you before, I guess you weren't really connected to those robots that've been attacking the town lately..." she continued as she was able to regain her composure. "I'm Apple, by the way...Apple Woods..."

"Miles Prower, my friends call me Tails," Tails introduced himself. "I also have a hunch whoever's behind the attacks is a mutual enemy," he commented, and Apple nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I kind of overreacted when I saw that you had a Viridite charm," she replied. "Thank you, by the way...You saved my life back there," she added.

"Ah, well, it was nothing really," Tails replied modestly, rubbing the back of his head. "I sort of do things like that a lot..."

"Are you kidding? It was a lot more than that! And, well...I don't want to sound too girly, but it was sort of like every girl's fantasy...Like the noble knight whisking his lady fair away from danger on his trusty steed!" she told him, blushing a little. Tails just stared at her.

"Um..." he looked away a little nervously. This sudden approach had caught him off-guard...He hadn't expected saving her would produce these sudden feelings, but he didn't want them to grow too strong, he had to try and think of a way to let her down gently...He had taken a vow, after all, and wasn't about to back out of giving up on love now. Thankfully, this awkward moment didn't last for long as a voice called out.

"Tails!" Tails turned, finding Sonic and Max heading out of the forest towards him, and he sighed a breath of relief.

"Good, you're all right, we were too busy trying to avoid the crystals in the forest, and we were afraid you didn't...Wait, who's this?" Max started to tell him before he noticed Apple.

"This is Apple, we sort of had a bit of a dispute before I ended up saving her from the attack," Tails introduced his new friend.

"Oh really, you saved her, huh?" Max asked, giving Tails a knowing look. Although Tails had never mentioned his decision to give up on love to his friend, he doubted it wouldn't have been hard for Max to figure it out. Sonic, on the other hand, missed the true nature of the looks they traded, instead turning to Apple.

"So, was it you that put that portal thing out there?" he asked, gesturing back to the woods, and Apple nodded.

"Yeah, I live around here, though I go use that machine once in a while to get away from it all," she replied. "I guess all of you are from the other side?"

"Yeah...We were trying to create our own portal to be able to get through to Gear Point, but something seemed to be blocking our passage," Tails explained.

"Gear Point? I've been there a few times...It's pretty far off from here, though," Apple replied. "But I don't think going there is a good idea...I've heard that some strange things going on around there, such as robotic guards attacking anyone who got near it..." she explained.

"You'd do well to heed her words," A slightly mechanical voice suddenly spoke out from the forest before Shadow came flying out of the line of trees, landing hard on the ground at their feet. He was covered in bruises, and the cuts on his body suggested he had caught the full force of one of the crystalized attacks.

"Shadow!" Sonic ran to help Shadow to his feet as he shakily got up. As he did, another figure emerged from the woods, a tall figure covered in thick red armor. This armor had more crystals powering it, and although his face was covered by a metal helmet with glowing eye lenses, his shape suggested that he was another fox.

"You're behind these attacks, aren't you?!" Sonic growled at the figure, standing up, but Shadow grabbed his leg, shaking his head.

"No...He's too powerful...Not even I was able to do anything against him!" Shadow warned.

"Your friend is quite correct...Attacking me would be quite counter-productive to your own survival," the figure agreed. "My name is Crystalis...Consider this a warning, continue your pursuit of Gear Point and stay out of our way...Or next time we won't be so merciful!" he warned.

"Or, we could just take you down right here and now, together!" Tails growled, running towards Crystalis despite Shadow's protests. He lunged at the fox, shooting wind from his feet as he did so to boost his speed as he drew his sword and placed a lightning gear on it.

"Take this!" electricity coursed through his blade as he slashed towards him, but Crystalis simply raised his hand, seeming to absorb the energy from the attack before the crystals powering his armor glowed, and energy coursed through Tails' body through the sword. Tails cried out in agony before crumpling at his opponent's feet. Crystalis didn't give him long to recover, however, before he reached down and wrapped a hand around his neck, lifting him up off the ground.

"Very well, if you're all still so persistent, then perhaps an example should suffice to convince you," Crystalis told them, and Tails grabbed his wrist with both hands as Crystalis started to strangle him, but could do little to break the iron grip around his throat.

"Tails! Let him go, you..." Apple started to move forward, beginning to draw her sword before Max pulled her back. This was right before Crystalis fired an energy blast with his free hand towards where she was standing only moments before.

"Are you all so eager to throw your lives away?!" Crystalis demanded. "Have you no regard for your own..."  
set "That is quite enough, Crystalis," Another voice suddenly spoke out as another figure came out of the forest. This figure appeared to be human, a tall man somewhere in his twenties with spiky silver hair. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of mirrored wrap-around sunglasses, and he was dressed in a set of silver robes with circuitry designs snaking over it. He carried a long metal staff tipped with several large glowing silver crystals, these crystals appearing to be Viridite as well.

"This is the only way to stop interference from the likes of them, Vincent! We need to set an example, we need..." Crystalis protested before Vincent cut him off.

"...To keep casualties to a minimum...We are not tyrants, and our message will never get across to the people if they fear us," Vincent replied. "Now drop him!" Crystalis sighed before complying, hurling Tails away from him. Tails landed hard on his back, gasping for breath as Sonic and Apple soon kneeled beside him to see if he was all right.

"We may have spared you this time, but continue on your current path, and next time we may need to take more drastic measures," Vincent warned the group before there was a bright flash and both of them disappeared.

"Are you all right, Tails?" Sonic asked as he and Apple helped him to his feet.

"Yeah...Yeah, I'll be all right," Tails assured them.

"Well, in any case, it'll probably be dark soon, and it's not safe out here at night...Your friend could use some help as well," Apple commented as she went to help Shadow. "You can all stay at my house for the night, it's not too far from here," she told them, leading the way, and the others agreed. However, Max waited behind before he grabbed Tails and pulled him aside when the others were a little ahead of them.

"Did Apple appear to have any interest in you?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I'm sure you realize," Tails started to reply before Max stopped him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know...I get that you probably won't share her feelings, but go along with it for now," Max told him.

"I know she might not take it well, but wouldn't leading her on be worse?" Tails asked.

"Listen, I might not know how emotionally stable she really is yet, but I'm warning you...If you end up breaking her heart, not only is our friendship over, but I'm going to let Sonic in on your little secret, and he probably won't be too happy with you either," Max told him. "So go with it, understand?" he demanded. Tails hesitated, realizing that Max was deathly serious about his ultimatum.

"I...I understand...I guess that might make it easier to let her down gently if we became friends..." Tails reasoned.

"Good...Now, let's catch up with the others...Apple was right, it will be getting dark soon..." Max told him, leading the way back to the others.


End file.
